168 WILD-FOWL DECOYS IN ESSEX.
I. North of the Blackwater, and between the Stour and the Colne,
there were formerly no fewer than eleven, namely, Wormingford,
Jacques Hall, Pond Hall, Old Decoy, Roydon Hall, Dovercourt,
Great Oakley Hall, Old Maze Hall, Horsey Island, Villa Farm near
Wivenhoe, and Lion Point, all long since abandoned.
II. On Mersea Island, between the Colne and Blackwater, was
another. Then on the north shore of the Blackwater there were nine,
namely, Tolleshurst D'arcy, Old Hall, Tollesbury, and Teal Pond.
Goldhunger (2), Solleys, Gore, Skinner's Wick, and Bohun's Hall.
III. South of the Blackwater, and between that river and the
Crouch, were eight others, namely, Latchington, Steeple, Ramsey,
West Wick, East Hall, Glebeland, Marsh House, and Grange.
IV. South of the Crouch, and between that river and the Thames,
there was a solitary decoy at South Hall, near Paglesham.
Of all these, three only are now existing and in working order,
namely, Old Hall, Marsh House, and Grange, a sorry remnant of
what was once a flourishing and lucrative business in the eastern
portion of the county.
Those who have never seen a decoy worked, or examined the
entries in a decoyman's account-book, would scarcely credit what an
enormous number of fowl could be taken even on a small pool with
only three or four pipes if properly managed. In 1886 I visited the
Ashby decoy in Lincolnshire, where three thousand or four thousand
birds used to be taken in a season, and in one year 6,059; and yet
this decoy had only four pipes and little more than an acre of water.
Even a larger number of birds than this were captured in one season
of five months (from September to January inclusive) in a famous
decoy in Essex. This was Steeple Decoy, on the south shore of the
Blackwater, where, in the very first year of its construction (1714) no
less than 7,345 fowl were captured. Of these 675 were duck and
mallard, 338 teal, 46 pintail, and 6,286 wigeon. These figures, with
other interesting particulars, I extracted from an old account-book
relating to this decoy in the possession of Mr. Robert Smith, of
Maldon, who, on the application of my friend, Mr. Edward A. Fitch,
very kindly allowed me to inspect it. The cost of constructing
this decoy and subsequently of enlarging it (as appears by the book
in question) amounted altogether to rather more than £300 (£306
14s. 4d.), while the selling price of fowl at that date was nine shillings
and sixpence a dozen; so that, if all the birds captured in the first
season had been sold at this price, the owners would have made